Waco Office

Steven Garrett

Chair-Elect

Steven Garrett is an attorney at the firm Boulette Golden & Marin where he represents clients in the field of employment law. Steven holds a degree in History from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He also serves as the current Vice President of the Austin Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section and is an Associate member of the Robert W. Calvert Inn of Court. He’s not a native of Austin, but he got here pretty darn quick. Steven’s excited about charting a new way to work in the 21st Century, and believes that Skillpoint’s model is the best way to help people succeed.

Melanie Flowers

Voting Board Member

Derrick Bonyuet-Lee

Treasurer

Derrick is a CPA with over 20 years of work experience in the finance field. He is currently working for Dell, Inc. as a finance controller in their Commercial Business Organization (CBO). Prior to Dell, he was in public accounting with Price Waterhouse. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Houston and a Master in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He also holds the Certified Financial PlannerTM designation and is a member of the American Institute of CPA’s and Texas Society of CPA’s. Derrick is also involved in academia. He has been teaching finance courses at Concordia University since 2013. He also enjoys supporting our community and has been involved with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for many years. Other causes he supports include culture and children with special needs. During his free time, Derrick spends his time running at Town Lake, enjoying the many festivals available in Austin, and traveling around the world.

Lonny Stern

Secretary

Lonny is an Enterprising Austinist focusing on the economic development of Central Texas. He currently works with the Community Involvement Team at Capital Metro to increase transit ridership in the Austin region. Previously, he served as a Senior Director at Skillpoint Alliance; Outreach Director at the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) and Communications Director at Hope Street Group — both nonpartisan policy organizations; Communications Director at 91.7FM-KO-OP Radio; Research Analyst at the Texas House Research Organization, and Executive Director of aGLIFF. He earned an MPAff at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT-Austin and a BA in English, Florida State University.

Matt Glazer

Voting Board Member

Matt Glazer is the former Executive Director for the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce and founding Executive Director of Progress Texas and the Texas Research Institute. In both rolls he served as the chief executor for the overall vision and direction for the organization and as a representative voice for the millennial workforce and progressive policy community respectively.
Matt is a Texas native who has successfully launched four companies, a regional homes tour (Weird Homes Tour), a statewide advocacy non-profit in Texas, and the international Small Business Festival. He is well known as an public relations and and community engagement expert winning the Austin American Statesman’s social media award in 2009 and the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of…” award along with the WeWork Creator Award special Community Giver Award and Austin Inno’s 50 on Fire.
In addition to launching companies and a non-profit, Glazer has worked for local and national groups including — the American Heart Association, Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, KTBC Fox 7 Austin, and dozens of political candidates and causes across the country.
Matt is an alumni of Leadership Austin (Emerge ’14, Essential ’17) and is a 2016 New Leaders Council Fellow, Truman National Security Project partner, and Glass Leadership Fellow. He is an avid runner, cinephile, and loves all things muppet.

Megan Lasch

Voting Board Member

Originally from Grove, Oklahoma, Ms. Lasch has eleven years ofexperience in the project management/consulting industry. Having received her Bachelor’s degree in Bio Systems Engineering from Oklahoma State University, Ms. Lasch began her career as an engineering consultant where she helped design a variety of public and private development projects. Ms. Lasch is the Owner and President of O-SDA Industries, LLC, a City of Austin MBE/WBE/Texas HUB certified real estate development firm. Ms. Lasch is based in Austin, Texas and serves as the project manager/developer for all Saigebrook Developments. Ms. Lasch helps to manage all aspects of the project life cycle from site identification, TDHCA application, to managing third party consultants throughout the design process and ultimately to project completion. Ms. Lasch serves on the Board for Skillpoint Alliance and was the Chair from May 2016-2017, and is a member of the Real Estate Council of Austin.

Alessandro Piovaccari

Voting Board Member

As Silicon Labs’ Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Alessandro Piovaccari is responsible for the company’s product and technology research and development. Alessandro joined Silicon Labs in 2003 to design the company’s single-chip FM radio products, which have surpassed 1.2 billion device shipments. He co-architected Silicon Labs’ single-chip TV tuner IC, used by nine of the world’s top ten TV makers, with more than 50 percent market share. Previously, Alessandro worked as a research scientist at Tanner Research, joining the company in 1997 to develop CMOS image sensors. From 1998 to 2003, he was a member of the design services team at Cadence Design Systems, focusing on CMOS RFICs and high-speed SerDes IP development. Alessandro holds 38 patents (32 currently issued) and is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Full Member of AES. Alessandro received Laurea and PhD degrees in electronic engineering and computer science from the University of Bologna in Italy and a Post-Master’s Certificate with Honors in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Brian Haulotte

Voting Board Member

Brian was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and relocated with his family in 1983 to Austin, attending middle and high school. He is a third generation general contractor, beginning his construction career by working as a laborer and carpenter during his high school and college breaks. After graduating with a B.S. in Construction Science from Texas A&M University, Brian began his professional career in Dallas working as an Estimator and then progressing as a Field Engineer, Project Manager, and Preconstruction Manager. He is an employee owner of JE Dunn Construction and leads the Austin Preconstruction and Estimating team. Brian is actively involved as an Elder of Hope Presbyterian Church in Austin and enjoys volunteering his time as an 8th Grade Math Classroom Coach each week at Martin Middle School. His wife Shannon is the Assistant Principal of the Primary School at Meridian School in Round Rock. Brian and Shannon have three children and live in Cedar Park

Shivani Kathuria

Voting Board Member

Shivani Kathuria brings more than 25 years of experience in management, consulting and development to Skillpoint Alliance’s Board of Directors. She currently works at IBM as a Business and Technical Leadership partner, where she is responsible for more than 200 key executive positions worldwide. Prior to joining IBM, Kathuria led the Human Resources department at Webify, and ran her own HR consulting practice in Austin where she led workshops on cultural intelligence and diversity for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations. She holds two Master’s degrees in Educational Psychology and Human Resource Management.

Andy Cates

Voting Board Member

Andrew Cates serves as General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs for the Texas Nurses Association. The Texas Nurses Association is the largest and oldest association of professional nurses in Texas, and the only nursing association which represents all nurses in all practices around the state. Cates directs all legal affairs, policy development and political engagement for the association, as well as all lobby and PAC activity at the Texas Capitol. Prior to joining TNA, Andrew served as legislative attorney for the Texas Association of REALTORS® as well as lead attorney for the Texas Association of REALTORS® Political Action Committee, the largest PAC in Texas. After joining the REALTORS® in 2012, he quickly become an expert in campaign finance and ethics law and recently published Texas Ethics Laws Annotated, the first and only complete legal annotation of campaign finance and lobby laws in Texas (available for sale at www.texasethicslaws.com).

In the years leading up to this practice, Andrew spent three years at the Texas Capitol working for various state representatives and clerking the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, lobbied for solar energy and healthcare clients, and worked in various areas of the law including mergers & acquisitions, healthcare, criminal prosecution, and criminal defense.

Cates serves on numerous nonprofit boards in Austin, including the Austin Young Chamber Foundation and the Austin Young Lawyers Association, as well as serving as incoming chair for the State Bar of Texas Legislative & Campaign Law Section. Andrew received his B.A. in International Politics from Trinity University and his J.D. from Texas Tech School of Law in 2007. He currently lives in South Austin with his wife Nicole and son Dylan.

Lawrence Lyman

Voting Board Member

Lawrence Lyman has over 15 years experience in public service, primarily in local government with Travis County and the City of Austin. He currently serves as the Director of Research and Planning, overseeing planning staff, and managing workforce development and education for the Travis County Health and Human Services & Veterans Service Department. Prior to this assignment, his work has encompassed a wide range of human services issues including early childhood, youth development, basic needs, and public safety. Work in these areas has encompassed all phases of intermediary work: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Lawrence earned a Bachelor of Arts from Rice University and a Master of Public Affairs from the L.B.J. School at the University of Texas at Austin.